Episode 21
21: The Great Awakening in Restorative Dentistry - Dr. DeWitt Wilkerson
Dr. DeWitt Wilkerson is here today to talk about one of the most controversial topics in all of dentistry. It’s the great awakening in restorative dentistry. It’s also a great opportunity and dentistry. We affectionately call Dr. DeWitt Wilkerson Witt. Him him he had the pleasure of meeting Peter Dawson before he attended dental school. He then attended Dr. Dawson seminars and read his book before dental school.
After becoming a dentist, Witt joined Dr. Dawson’s practice in 1982. Witt is an experienced clinician and teacher. He takes the fundamentals laid out by Peter Dawson and takes them one step further. A lot of dentists today, are focusing on taking patients who have sleep apnea and getting them off of the CPAP machine and onto using a dental appliance. What we are calling the great awakening is realizing that sleep apnea is only a small part of oxygen utilization.
You can find Witt here:
Show Notes
[01:40] DeWitt thanks Kirk for the great speech he recently gave. He spent his entire Sunday trying to implement Kirks suggestions.
[02:46] At the age of 24, Kirk's whole life was changed after listening to Peter Dawson speak.
[03:29] Witt was friends growing up with Peter Dawson. Peter Dawson gave Witt his textbook and invited him to three of his seminars. Witt read the book and attended the seminars before going to dental school.
[05:13] He has seen it all from classical occlusion to TMJ disorders.
[05:28] What I want to talk about today is all of the concepts that we've learned and that Pete has helped us master and expand on that.
[05:37] When we talk about the great awakening in most restorative dentistry, what I'm thinking about is oxygen. Sleep apnea is only a small part of this bigger fundamental.
[06:33] Breathing, airway, sleep apnea, and craniofacial development are huge. Airways are critical to health.
[07:20] Airway function directly relates to occlusion, craniofacial development, TMJ and sleep apnea.
[07:27] How the airway is important even before birth. After birth it is huge.
[09:48] From birth to nine years old is a key time of development with breathing and breathing problems.
[10:19] Young fit females were diagnosed with upper airway resistance syndrome. This means that they couldn't breathe through their nose easily. Their symptoms were things like waking up with a headache and having daily fatigue.
[13:15] The third category is the fat old man category. If someone looks like they have sleep apnea it could be an airway problem.
[14:54] Archway retraction can lead to airway problems.
[15:54] Dental malocclusions are a more recent phenomena.
[18:04] Breathing through the mouth creates a more narrow arch form.
[18:35] Epigenetics is the environmental changes on genetics.
[20:14] Everything in our body has a purpose, and breathing through our nose filters air and releases nitric oxide.
[26:42] You haven't experienced a good night's sleep until you tape your mouth shut and force yourself to breathe through your nose.
[29:50] Breathing through your nose controls the rate of breathing, produces nitric oxide, and humidifies and decontaminates the air.
[31:00] A lack of oxygen can also create early dementia.
[32:14] By increasing the flow of oxygen this type of dementia is reversible.
[34:13] How dentists are the guards of the one thing that's going to keep people healthy for a long time.
[34:57] You can stay healthy your whole lifetime and then go to sleep one night and not wake up. That is the goal at Cooper Aerobics.
[36:29] 60% of what we eat in a Western diet is inflammatory. Nutrition is huge it can't be ignored.
[37:17] The simple answer is to eat whole foods the way it is grown.
[38:42] Young dentists should just ask a few simple questions about breathing.
[40:56] If you can't see your uvula, then you have an airway problem.
[44:34] Classic signs of TMJ for young fit females could also be an airway disorder.
[57:21] Being great at what we do and understanding the cause and effect and looking for clues of airway problems.
[59:02] The future is expanding arches to expand the airway and improve breathing. This is a tremendous opportunity to create a network within the medical community.
[01:01:16] There's a strong correlation between sleep apnea and gastric reflux and esophageal cancer.
Links and Resources:
Functional Occlusion: From TMJ to Smile Design
Thornton Adjustable Positioner - The TAP Dental Device
